As seen on Swiminfo today.......so much for citizenship eh?! And we complain about masters "superteams"!
Draganja Changing Allegiances to Qatar
ZAGREB, Croatia, December 7. WHILE South Africa’s Roland Schoeman has spurned an offer to switch his allegiance to Qatar, the same cannot be said for Croatian Duje Draganja. The sprint sensation, a 24-year-old, recently accepted a lucrative offer to swim for the Middle Eastern nation, which has been chasing high-profile athletes by offering significant sums of money.
Before accepting the offer from Qatar, which is believed to be at least $1 million, Draganja gave Croatian swimming officials the opportunity to keep him swimming under his homeland’s flag. Ultimately, though, the Arab nation won out and Draganja is expected to race for Qatar at next year’s World Short Course Championships in Shanghai, China.
Croatia's not such a rich nation. If Dragana's family hasn't got much, I don't know that I'd blame him. It could make a difference to a lot of people.
It's like basketball players who go straight to the NBA, instead of to college, for the cash. I don't blame them if they're in a bad way, even if it would be better for the sport.
Does anyone know if that's the case?
I don't know. At some point, I think choosing feeling more "honorable" by sticking it out with your nation of origin becomes more plausible. For me it certainly would.
And a million dollars is a lot more in Croatia than in California or Western Europe.
Rumor has it that gull80 was offered a similar amount of money to swim for New Bern Aquatics.
I've also heard Canada is offereing similar amounts to US swimmers, as long as they have their backbones removed.
Is it swim exploring or swim whoring? It depends on your point of view. Roland Schoeman rejected an offer to swim with the nation of Qater and he gave his reasons in a press release yesterday. He said it was not a simple and straightforward decision even if he is poorer as a result. He believed he would be taking a short term gain as a result if he accepted.
Duje Draganja accepted an offer to swim for the nation of Qater and he gave his reasons in a press release www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10277531/From/RL.1 He stated that the country will be his sponsors and provide better funding than his current country of Croatia. As a professional swimmer athlete, he needs to take advantage of opportunities that will support him financially and not depend on sponsors if your going to get to the top of your profession.
Qater has done this in the past with Keyan World Champion runners like Shaheen so there is a history of success there. Now they plan on getting into swimming and they have Australian coach Otto Sonnleitner to build a team and provide the best facilities that money can buy. Rumor has it that they plan on recruiting Domino Fioavanti, 2000 double Olympic Champion in the 100 and 200 *** for Italy with a 1 million dollar offer.
I can see how some athletes could do this and I wouldn't be suprised if the next swimmer they make an offer to would be Kristi Coventry because of the problems in Zimbabwe and how that country cannot compete in the upcoming Commonwealth swimming championships because of Robert Mugabe thugacracy.
I guess it comes down to national pride and patriotism or getting the best possible compensation for your professional occupation. I think the FINA rule is you have to swim unattached for a year before switching your delegation so you are going to see a lot of this in the next year or so.
Originally posted by aquageek
Rumor has it that gull80 was offered a similar amount of money to swim for New Bern Aquatics.
I've also heard Canada is offereing similar amounts to US swimmers, as long as they have their backbones removed.
So the question is, did Gull take the offer?
I won't even comment on the other jab for fear of igniting a politcal debate.
In 1956 a british swimmer came to Etobicoke swim club his new Canadian girl friend paid his way to Canada and he swam for her coach. Allas it was all for naught she married some one else.
Good to see that the Geek has emerged from the woodwork. Guess he was too busy recently scalping tickets to North Carolina's holding USA's 1,000th execution since the Supreme's restored capital punishment. Big holiday for the Geek (although, to be perfect it should have been an overweight person being killed).
This is an interesting topic for a number of reasons. One perspective that I have seen mentioned in other contexts is that a problem with the Olympics as they are currently constituted is an excess of nationalism(I don't see that changing by the way and am not sure it would even be feasible).
I remember someone suggesting that athletes should compete as individuals and not as representatives of their countries because at the end of the day the Olympics should recognize sporting excellence and not national pride, etc. In a back door way, that's what this does. It may not be the intent of the purchasing country but it is the real outcome.
The other potential twist is athletes who are short of the standards for making a team who move to another country's Olympic team to make their standard. I competed in High School against some Indonesian Olympicans who were swimming in San Diego County--the gap between us was a lot less than the gap between me and the US Olympic team. They were all Indonesian, but I remember pondering how to sign up--not seriously of course but the only way I was going to make it to the Olympics was to buy a ticket.
I think this has happened in soccer with foreign nationals making the US team when they could not qualify with their own. Or Americans playing on other Olympic baseball teams in the Athens Olympics.
